I want as many shots at Flawless Battle Stones and Bandages as I can get in the shortest possible time, so I’ve worked up a system for doing all of the other Daily Grand Master Pet Tamers, using as few different pets as possible, all with a one shot so I don’t have to waste any time with that silly rezzing stuff.

I hereby present to you my system.

Keep one thing in mind. These are pet battles, with nearly infinite variation in successful styles, due to the difference in pet breeds, speeds, quality and weaknesses. What I may have chosen might not be nearly as powerful against a given opponent as another pet you like to use. What my choices represent are ones that are based off of pets I have, like, and have been proven to win every single time. So, by all means, if you have a different team you use against a particular pet tamer, share it below in the comments. I’ll certainly enjoy trying it out!

The list of 8 pets I use, along with the selected move set.

Aquatic – Mirror Strider (Water Jet, Cleansing Raid, Pump) – The Mirror Strider is one of several aquatic pets that share the same moves, so don’t worry if you don’t have this exact pet. I chose this one because you can find them at near max level in The Jade Forest fairly easy. Having an aquatic with these moves is the key.

Aquatic – Emperor Crab (Surge, Healing Rain, Whirlpool) – Crabs are fairly common to find, I chose the Emperor Crab because you can find them at nearly max level in Pandaria, less time to level one up. The Surge always goes first, and the Whirlpool does a big chunk of damage.

Magic – Arcane Eye (Focused Beam, Drain power, Mana Surge) – The Arcane Eye is another one that is fairly easy to find, the spawn in a big group around Karazhan at different times. I like Mana Surge because, even though it takes control of your character away for 3 consecutive turns, it does massive damage when it hits, and can clean the clock of pets weak against magic.

Mechanical – Darkmoon Zeppelin (Missile, Decoy, Bombing Run) – Okay, since this one you can buy at the Darkmoon Faire, it’s easy to get but a pain to level since you have to start from 1. BUT. OMG. Decoy drops two distractions that completely nullify your targets next tow attacks. Against a pet that Swarms, not so hot, but against a pet that has one big massive attack and two defensive ones, it’s insane. Plus, Missile consistently gets big damage hits, and Bombing Run is great for a finishing blow.

Flying – Brilliant Kaliri (Quills, Predatory Strike, Cyclone) – I don’t really have a favorite flying pet. I am using this one simply because Quills can do multiple hits, and Predatory Strike is also strong against opponents weak against flying, so there are multiple strong attacks to choose from. Everyone who Pet battles should have one, since it is a reward for capturing 125 unique pets from The Menagerie achievement. On my son’s account, I actually use the Amber Moth instead, with Slicing Wind, Cocoon Strike and Moth Dust, and it works just as well.

Beast – Spider, any old Spider that has (Strike, Brittle Webbing, Leech Life) – Spiders can be found all over the place, and almost all of them have these three moves. Brittle Webbing is insanely powerful against Critters that have swarm-type moves, since the bonus damage is per hit, and every hit of a swarm counts. Plus, If you canst Brittle Webbing, then Leech Life, then a Strike and another Leech Life, you get two heals in that do double healing. It really extends the longevity of your Spider. Easy to find a high level Amethyst Spiderling in Krasarang Wilds.

Elemental – Pandaren Fire Spirit (Burn, Immolate, Conflagrate) – Okay, so this one can cost some money on the Auction House. Sue me. This pet is ridiculously effective against Major Payne, which is the only pet battle I use an Elemental on. If you have a Lil’ Ragnaros, it is even more powerful due to being a slower pet, BUT requires real world money to buy from the Blizzard store. All attacks are strong against mechanical, while being an Elemental means all Mech attacks are weak against you. Suck it, Major Payne!

Humanoid – Anubisath Idol (Crush, Stoneskin, Deflection) – yes, this is another one that is either a pain in the butt to farm solo (in AQ 40), or can be bought for a few thousand gold on the Auction House. I bought one myself a long time ago, and I have never regretted it. Crush hits like a freight train when it connects, Deflection can negate big hits when times right, and Stoneskin gives you great survivability against Swarming pets or DoTs.

The Addons I find most helpful.

The addon which is key to my technique is PetBattle Teams, on Curse. This addon allows you to set up multiple pre-selected teams of pets, name the team, choose the pet abilities and then lock them in place, preserving your tactical choices.

I also use the following addons to help me in managing my collection, identifying Pet Breeds, finding new pets and upgrades in the zones I am in, and dominating in my battles;

If you take a look on the right of the normal Pet tab of the Mounts and Pets window, you’ll see that Pet Battle Teams has added a frame showing teams. At the beginning, you won’t have any teams, but by pressing the “+” button at the bottom of that side frame, a team will be created. You can drag and drop pets into it, in any order, and when you choose the abilities in the main frame, it will be in the team.

Right click over your team, and you can choose to name the team, and to lock it so all of your choices, including Pet Abilities, will be saved and won’t change when you move stuff around in the normal interface later.

As you can see, I have created a different team for every Daily Grand Master Pet Tamer, set the order and Pet Abilities, named them and then locked them.

I then distributed alts around the world, so doing tamers such as Major Payne or Trixxy is simply a process of logging in, fighting, logging out and switching alts. The longer you go, the more Bandages everyone gets, the less downtime waiting for rezzes.

Test Your Might

Kalimdor:

Stone Cold Trixxy – Winterspring (66,65)

On Stone Cold Trixxy, the pets you fight are all level 19. I do not have a special team I use for this fight, instead I have a pet in the level 13 range as my first pet to get XP, then usually my spider and the Darkmoon Zeppelin, or whatever. Sometimes I have Anubisath Idol and Emperor Crab up. As long as your team has a few 25’s in it, I’ve never found it to make much difference. I keep an alt in Winterspring just for this tamer.

Eastern Kingdoms:

Lydia Accoste – Deadwind Pass (40,77)

On Lydia, again the pets you fight are level 19, so as long as at least a couple of your backend pets are 25, you can have something to start with in the level 10 – 13 range to get bonus XP. Just remember, when leveling pets, the pet has to survive, and it has to use a pet ability at least once in the fight. Even if it misses, it counts. So, as long as your pet gets off one shot (or heal, or buff) and gets swapped out immediately, if it lives, it gets XP.

Outland:

Bloodknight Antari – Shadowmoon Valley (31,42)

For Bloodknight Antari, I use the Darkmoon Zeppelin, Emperor Crab and Anubisath Idol.

Darkmoon Zeppelin has to survive one shot from Arcanus, and then can drop Decoy, use Bomb, and repeatedly Missile until dead. Just as soon as Arcanus dies, swap in your Crab, drop Whirlpool and then Surge to victory. When Jadefire dies, bring out the Anubisath Idol. Use Stoneskin, and then all that is left is to Crush repeatedly. With the right combination of pets, this fight is pretty straightforward. I keep an alt out here just for this fight.

Northrend:

Major Payne – Icecrown (77,20)

For Major Payne, I use the Darkmoon Zeppelin, Burning Pandaren Spirit and Emperor Crab.

The Darkmoon Zeppelin opens first against the Bear. I try and drop Decoy first (taking three unopposed hits from the bear, since the bastard stuns you and you forget what you were doing. Damn bears. Deadly!), Cast Bomb once Decoy is finally up, and then attack repeatedly with the Missile. I have never failed to down the bear if I Decoy first. The Zeppelin almost always dies before the bear is dead, but then after the Mechanical rez I’ll drop another Bomb. The straight damage from the bomb kills the bear, and the bomb will drop on the next pet as a parting shot. As soon as the bear dies, and the mechanical ostrich swaps in, I swap the Zeppelin for the Burning Pandaren Spirit. The ostrich is weak against elementals, and with Immolate followed by Conflagrate, the Ostrich might just die right there, two rounds. With the bomb dropping, you might even finish it off with bomb after it rezzes. Immediately swap in the Crab once the ostrich dies, open with Whirlpool and then pound away with Surge. You’ll usually end the fight with all three of your pets still alive. I keep an alt out here, too.

Cataclysm:

Obalis – Uldum (57,42)

For Obalis, I use the Darkmoon Zeppelin, Arcane Eye and Spider.

The Darkmoon Zeppelin starts first, opening with Decoy. God, I love Decoy. Follow that with Bomb, and then repeated Missiles and you should down him with a few hundred health left, and not even needing your Mechanical rez yet. When the moth comes out, it will immediately do that Cocoon Strike thing, so don’t waste a cooldown. Missile, then Missile again. You’ll probably die from Moth Dust, but at least you made it use up it’s big cooldowns on a pet that can rez, and get off a last Missile. Swap in your Arcane Eye, use Drain Power, and then Mana Surge. You ought to be able to get the moth down far enough before you die that your Zeppelin will have Decoy off cooldown and can finish it off, or low enough for your Spider to get the job done. The moth is the hard part, because your Spider with Brittle Webbing and Strike will destroy the beetle, and Leech Life can bring your health back up if you come anywhere close to having problems. I keep another alt out here. Yes, I have a lot of alts with nothing better to do than hand out in out of the way locations.

Pandaria:

Courageous Yon – Kun Lai Summit (36,74)

For Courageous Yon, I use Arcane Eye, Spider and Darkmoon Zeppelin.

The Arcane Eye is up first against Piqua. Piqua will Squawk, and then do Lift Off, so it’s a wise idea to start with Drain Power to lower his damage, and then save your big hit for after Lift Off completes it’s cycle. As soon as he has landed from Lift Off is a perfect time to start Mana Surge, since he’s going to Flock at you, and you’ll both be locked into three rounds of mutually assured destruction. Flock him, right? Once Piqua is dead, the bunny will come up, and it’s time to bring in your Spider for his moment of glory. Poor bunny. Between Brittle Webbing making his fast speed attack hurt him more than you, and your big Strike, it’s not going to go well for him. Finally, Bleat the goat comes up, and I just fire off a Brittle Webbing, get off a Leech Life to whittle him down, and try and eat the big Headbutt with my Spider. Then it’s time to swap to Darkmoon Zeppelin, Decoy, and finish him off with Missiles.

Seeker Zusshi – Townlong Steppes (36,52)

For Seeker Zusshi, I use Emperor Crab, Spider and then Brilliant Kaliri.

On this fight, I start with the Crab. I’ll open with Whirlpool, and then pop Renewing Mists. That way, I can just buckle down and Surge for as long as it takes until the rock dude be dead, mon. I hate the snail, so when it comes up, I drop a Whirlpool on it, recast Renewing Mists (which persists through pet swaps), and then bring out my Spider to kill him. Use Brittle Webbing, Strike, then use a Leech Life to ensure you can survive the Dive he’s about to do. Once he’s dead, cast a Brittle Webbing, Strike a few times until you eat the Pump. You really do NOT want your bird to eat a fully charged Pump, it can easily one-shot you. Although, if it does… you can always bring in your almost-at-full Crab. Right? Still, if your bird lives, Predatory Strike HURTS that pumping sucker. Quills for effect, and enjoy.

Wastewalker Shu – Dread Wastes (55,38)

For Wastewalker Shu, I use the Brilliant Kaliri, Mirror Strider and Darkmoon Zeppelin.

Brilliant Kaliri is up first against the crab. I like to get Cyclone going, then cast Predatory Strike. Quills repeatedly to finish off. Once Kaliri dies to your foes, swap in Mirror Strider against the crusher, cast Cleansing Rain and Pump. This will get your Water Jet nice and powerful, and let your second Pump come close to finishing it off. I’d like to say that I do something fancy against the powerball-crazed porcupine, but all I do is pop Decoy and then Missile until he’s a puddle of goo.

Mo’ruk – Krasarang Wilds (62,45)

For Mo’ruk, I use Darkmoon Zeppelin, Arcane Eye and Brilliant Kaliri.

Start with Darkmoon Zeppelin against the worm. Decoy at start, then cast a Missile. The grub will poison you as you cast Decoy, and then Burrow next, so if you Bomb you’ll automatically miss and waste a 3 round cooldown. So Missile first, then after he has burrowed, cast Bomb. Missile until dead. When the moth comes out, I like to keep the Zeppelin in, get off another Bomb, and then a Missile to soften it up. Once Zeppelin goes down, bring out the Arcane Eye, Drain Power and then Mana Surge. As soon as the moth dies and the turtle comes out, be prepared to eat a Headbutt. I usually don’t waste time, I swap in the Kaliri right away, Predatory Strike and then Quills until dead.

Hyuna of the Shrines – Jade Forest (48,54)

For Hyuna, I use Arcane Eye, Darkmoon Zeppelin and Brilliant Kaliri.

Arcane Eye is up first against Skyshaper. I like to start with Drain Power to give me the best advantage, and then Mana Surge. Unlike other flyers, Skyshaper won’t do annoying Cocoon Strikes, so you can unleash three rounds of Mana Surge without fear of wasting one. As soon as the snake is up, swap in the Zeppelin, and drop Decoy. The snake will Burrow, so you won’t be wasting a shot. Now, yup, Bomb and then repeated Missiles. Dor the Wall comes last, and first thing he’s going to do is Headbutt you, doing massive damage and maybe stunning you. I like to leave the Zeppelin in to take the hit, give your Flying pet a better chance of surviving to lay out all the damage later. Here is the sneaky trick, though. If your Zeppelin survives, then Headbutt is the ONLY offensive move Dor has, and it’s on a long cooldown. If you drop Decoys on Dor, then you can attack unopposed for 6 or more rounds, while that one Decoy eats the occasional Headbutt. It’s crazy. But if you don’t want to do that, your Flyer should have no problems finishing Dor off.

Aki the Chosen – Vale of Eternal Blossoms (68,41)

For Grand Master Aki, I am NOW using a low level pet to level, the Anubisath Idol and Brilliant Kaliri.

This strategy replaces the one I used to have, which was close to the same except I used a Spider to wear down the first enemy when it wasn’t necessary – the Anubisath Idol can destroy the first two enemies, and almost get the third as well. So, use a low level pet to XP in the first spot, and proceed as follows, as described by Sol (thank you Sol!);

Start with low level pet that can survive one stampede (btw note that lvl 10 for some reason is the optimum XP gain, I don’t know why).

Swap in Idol. Idol casts Stone Shield. Idol proceeds to Crush cricket until the cricket is dead. It will take zero damage and be at full health by the time it kills the cricket due to the human racial.

On the dragons first attack, Deflection on the lightning storm, then Crush (and refresh Stone Shield) as necessary.

On the aquatic, refresh your shield as it burrows, then Deflection the burrow. Crush away, you can always predict when it will be burrowing and refresh your shield then, and if you reflect the burrow damage, most of the time (unless you were unlucky against the dragon and got to low health) Idol will be alive at the end.

Farmer Nishi – Valley of the Four Winds (46,44)

For Farmer Nishi, I use a low level pet (that has at least 200 health, to survive a single Sunlight), Mirror Strider and Darkmoon Zeppelin.

Enemy pet 1) Enemy starts with his Sunflower. Start with your low level pet. Attack once; you’ll get hit by Sunlight. This is the only time your low level pet should get hit. Then, swap to your Mirror Strider.

A) Cast Pump, which was charged from the previous pet. It hits him before he burrows, which he does on this turn.
B) Charge Pump (enemy is burrowed)
C) Cast Cleaning Rain (enemy is burrowed)
D) Cast Water Jet; combined with the damage they took from the first pump, this should kill them.

Enemy pet 3) Enemy brings in the worm

A) Cast Pump, which is charged from the previous pet. Enemy hits you with Goo.
B) Charge Pump, enemy Burrows
C) Cast Pump. This is where it gets a bit random. Normally the enemy’s burrow will hit you and bring you down under 100 health. While it is very rare to die from it, a crit will push you over. If you don’t die, the Pump will kill the enemy, game over. If you do die, just bring out any mechanical pet (I use Darkmoon Zeppelin) to finish off the last 800 damage.

Spirit Tamers:

Burning Pandaren Spirit – Townlong Steppes (57,42)

For the Burning Pandaren Spirit, I use a leveling pet that is at least level 10 – 12 to survive Cyclone, Anubisath Idol and Emperor Crab.

I’ve written the strategy I use in more detail elsewhere on the blog, because I use this fight as my quick leveling routine. I have never completed the quest for the Spirit Tamers, because once I do, I can only fight the Burning Pandaren Spirit once a day. That will be a sad, sad day.

Anyway, Start with your leveling pet out, get off a single action/ability, dragon casts Cyclone. Swap to Anubisath Idol, dragon lifts off. Cast Deflection, dragon misses with big shot. Crush repeatedly, depending on your hits and misses, you’ll either obliterate the dragon and get stomped by the burning spirit, or you’ll kill the dragon just in time to have Deflection off cooldown and get to use it against the burning spirit, then cast Stoneskin and keep plugging away. Sometimes I die early, a few times my Anubisath has lived all the way through to destroy the wasp at the end. All comes down to lucky Crush hit chances.

So, when burning spirit comes out, he Conflagrates first, which hurts like hell and can one shot your Anubisath. Can, not necessarily will. If you can survive that, his next action is a self-heal, even though he hasn’t taken any damage. Then he does a small attack on you… and sits for a few turns, waiting for things to come off cooldown, giving you several uninterrupted whacks at him. If your Anubisath lived, pound him with Crush until he wakes up and kills you. Otherwise, bring out your crab, Surge him to death, and then when the wasp comes up, cast Shell Shield, Renewing Mists, and slowly Surge your way to absolutely unstoppable victory.

As I have not completed the Pandaren Spirit quest, I do not have my own personal pet list or strategy guide for you in fighting the other three. Not right now. Sooner or later I’ll have all the pets I want leveled, and I’ll finish it. When I do, I’ll complete this list. Or, a patch will come along and break it. One or the other.

I hope that this guide has in some way aided you in seeing you don’t need to level a million pets, or have a stable of super-rares to enjoy success against the Master Pet Tamer dailies. With just a handful of carefully chosen pets, you can quickly run through 12 masters every single day, for your chances at Battle Stones, Bandages and if truly lucky, a Porcupette!

Also for Grand Master Aki you can start with anything and then use Anubiseth Idol.

Start with low level pet that can survive one stampede (btw note that lvl 10 for some reason is the optimum XP gain, I don’t know why).

Swap in Idol. Idol casts Stone Shield. Idol proceeds to bash cricket until the cricket is dead. It will take 0 damage and be at full health by the time it kills the cricket due to the human racial.

On the dragons first attack, reflect the lightning storm, then bash (and refresh shield) as necessary.

On the aquatic, refresh your shield as it burrows, then reflect the burrow. Bash away, you can always predict when it will be burrowing and refresh your shield then, and if you reflect the burrow damage, most of the time (unless you were unlucky against the dragon and got to low health) Idol will be alive at the end.

Sol, since that made a lot of sense, I tried it tonight, and it worked flawlessly. Thank you, and I’ve updated the post up top to reflect the awesomeness, because your way improves on mine without adding more pets to level before doing it.

Have a look at Mechanical Pandaren Dragonling. It is actually superior to the Zeppelin against Magic Pets. It has Decoy as well, nut the clincher is it has a Dragon damage source in its breath weapon, so not only are you taking less damage you are doing 50% more to magical pets too. In a similar vein, I like snails against elementals, they have the critter damage reduction, along with an aquatic attack (Dive) that does a fair chunk of damage to Elementals. Their family ability to shake off stuns helps a lot against the Pandaren Earth Elemental too.

For the pandaren beasts of fable, if you or anyone is interested, I use a team I found out about from the game diplomat, what he calls “the boring team.” Works for every beast of fable. Unborn Valkyrie, Pandaren Water Spirit and Chrominius. His explanation, for anyone who is interested, is here: http://gamediplomat.com/wow-pet-battle-guide-how-to-beat-the-new-epic-beasts-of-fable-pets/
It works on every one, but No No is a bit tough, so I use my old normal No No team for that.

You might want to check your achievement progress now Josh, I don’t know if they’ve actually fixed it but for a long time it was bugged according to wow pet battle forums, you kept credit for each tamer you beat on it, so you could actually do it over a number of days. Feels better doing it right ofc, I did it legit, but if you just want the achievement polished off and it’s still bugged you might have only a few left to rattle off. If they have fixed it, a tip is to stick various alts (can make lvl 1’s and have a friend fly them if you don’t have many) at the furthest tamers to save time, then you can just log on them, beat the tamer they’re at and log back to your main.

BBB, since you’re using the fire spirit for pet leveling, before you finish it off you might want to check out the celestial tournament pets and see what you’ll need for that. The celestials from what I’ve read so far are kinda tricky, most I’ve seen are recommending the ‘boring’ team for them however you can’t heal your pets during the tournament, so if you’re wanting to use that on all 3….you’ll be needing 3 of each pet 0_o. I’ve already got my 3 sets since I had nothing else to level and I’d amassed extra water spirits and chrominius from just doing the dailies and my (futile) runs of BWL on my warrior and dk trying for Ashkandi for transmog, if you haven’t it might be an idea to use a bit of teamwork, get a couple friends who want to do it and pool your pets, ie you pass your pets all to one person, they do the tournament, pass them all to next, saves 3 of you all leveling multiples.

Nice write up Bear! It doesn’t look like we do things that differently when it comes to the Grand Master Tamers. However, Emperor Crab (especially a 4/14 (P/P) one) can solo Farmer Nishi. I often use Nishi to gain xp for two low level pets.

I open with the crab and use Renewing Mists. Then I swap in one low pet for the second round and then my other low pet for the third round. Rounds 4 and on are the crab tearing up the first two of Nishi’s pets with Surge and then whittling down her last pet using Renewing Mists and Shell Shiled when needed.

The Tamers up until the guy in Uldum don’t really need a planned team, other than a few type matchings, and a strong enough pair can allow a third to level. The Cataclysm Tamer and the Tamers in Pandaria require the sort of detail you listed, and I agree Nishi is probably the easiest to defeat. You have about twice the addons I do, can you maybe go into a bit more detail on which serve what purpose?

This is an awesome list, thank you so much. I’ve been avoiding the trainers mostly because it seemed like I had to have a zillion pets levelled up and I just don’t have the time. I have most of those, or something with he same skill set, so I’m going to finish levelling the lowbie ones and try this out.

For the elemental option, the Fel Flame in SMV has the same skill list you have for the Pandaren Fire Spirit, that maybe something people can use if they don’t have the gold for the AH. I have the Fel Flame at max lvl so I’m going to try it out first.

Nice 😉 If you’re still leveling pets though, personally I’d think it’s worth having a leveling pet in for at least the mop/cata/wotlk trainers, it’s some nice xp and some of the 2 pet carry strats are as fast as the 3 pet strats you’re using, though ofc it depends if you have the pets leveled to use them! There’s an awesome guide I found on warcraftpets forums, it’s been refined and tested a bunch with various people chipping in suggestions as you can see if you look at the size of the thread on it, so everything is about as efficient as a whole bunch of pet fanatics working together can make it. Uses 20 pets, though some are only used for 1 tamer each:-

vs Woodcarver
– Missile > Decoy > Missile until Woodcarver dies
vs Lightstalker
– Switch to Chrominius
– Howl > Surge of Power
vs Needleback
– Bite (if you can) until your Chrominius dies > switch to Darkmoon Zeppelin
– Decoy when there is 1-turn left on Headbutt’s cooldown
– Missile until Needleback has 618 HP or less > Explode
– Notes: your Carry pet doesn’t need to participate, as he will be the only one left alive at the end of the fight and will thus receive his xp.

Guides are on the Pet Battle forums at warcraftpets, 2nd sticky down titled Pet Battle Guides.

Great ideas, Katz. My guide is designed more for the new tamer that has a very small stable of pets at max level and feels overwhelmed, thinking they need to level dozens to do the dailies. My wife and my friend Monstre are both in that situation, they don’t have a clear idea which pets would be the most useful to obtain and level first, to be able to stomp the dailies. Once you have a nice, big stable of options to choose from, or have a handle on the dailies with a limited team, the fun is in doing just what you and others talk about, looking for that perfect combination of neat pets to win more conclusively and gain more opportunities to level extras.

I’ve added a link to that thread you mentioned at WarcraftPets. Thank you for the tip!